Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-06-27

| handling them. They do not 90 off too
easily. but smart tap right here will ex-
plode them"
His finger was on the nose Of a three
| inch percussion shell. as he spoke. 1t
was very neatly finished affair, of new
| pattern, from which important results
were expected by artillerists. The shells
were 10 explode on striking, and shatter
everything in front OF them in a thor
oughly scientific manner.
''An right, sir said Randall. '.WeH
get them out on the levee as fast as we
can. and the ammunition wagons can
come for them"
I'm not send any until you report a
sufficient number of shell ready for trans
portation.
s.An right, sir" said Randall, a. he
touched his hat and marched out of the
| ColoneI's quarters; but he added to him
self:
They're a little the worSt-looking
death-machines l ever saw. l shall be
glad when the last of them are on the le-
| vee.-
clad, '.turtle-back' gun-boats of the Miss
issippi squadron, and had been detailed in
| charge of an ammunition barge or pow
| der-boat." She had been towed down the
river, with full cargo, and now lay with
her head against the levee at the pow
| der-landing," between three and four
miles above Memphis.
Il,
| Civil War, and il was well understood
that a great deal of ammunition would
! yet be required.
! An hour or so later, Randall stood at
| his post upon the stern of the barge,
/ watching a score of colored -.rousta-
! bouts, who were going and coming, bus
| lily engaged in removing the percussion
/ shells called for by the Colonel
Every man of them was deeply impress
! ed by the solemnity of the work he was
| doing, and was visibly afraid of each bur
/ den he brought up from the hold of the
| barge. All the customary shouting and
| singing had subsidized into a beftting grav-
/ ity. There were no Ioungers on the levee,
| for the sentries posted at suitable dis
/ tances prevented the approach Of unau
/ thOriZed persons. No other craft of any
| sort was mOOred near the barge which
| contained SO many tons Of compressed
| power and peril.
| The ridge Of the levee was many feet
above the river level, and was already lin
ed with the terrible cylinders, whose yet
undimmed copper glistened in the sun
shine.
| Nearly done" said Randall, aloud,
land I'm glad of it. Can't say I've any
nerves TO speak of, but I'd rather move
/ hundred loads of mere powder or Ordin-
/ airy shell. don't like those things
He glanced down at the muddy torrent
! of the Mississippi, rushing by in miI-race
| haste, and added:
I'D be safer in the middle of the river
| than I am here"
| He was undoubtedly man of courage.
| and his nerves were such as fitted him for
| his present duty, but he was unable to
| put away from him a strong sense of the
| lonely peril Of his post. Neither could he
| avoid kind of vague calculation of the
/ enormous destructive forces chained in
the cargo concealed by the deck he stood
/ upon
Tramp, tramp, tramp, with sombre
steadiness, the athletic .sroustabOuts'
went down the cOmpanion-way, or came
up again; each, at return, bearing one
/ more of the new explosives. These did
/ not make an unduly heavy shOulder-load,
and there was no apparent danger of an
| accident. The veteran artilleryman, down
| in the hold, who superintended the pick
/ ing up and shouldering, had been cease
less in his admonitions, and every shell
/ had been lifted with clear understand
1 ing that, as one 'sroustabout" expressed
! it:
EFF l should sneeze, de shell would
/ take dat advantage and go off"
| A transpOrt-steamer, coming down the
/ river, seemed to sheer away from the
/ powder landing" as if it were place
| 10 be summed; and Randall may have
/ been justified in asserting that:
The gulls fly high over it, and even
mule if he lay On this leFee. Its dreary
| work
| So it was, and without extra pay or
/ honor, except for the ''roustabouts," who
received double wages They were all
| picked men, and as well fitted for that
service as any white men, but the Colonel
/ of Artillery had remarked of them:
I'D rather lose them than as many vol
unteers if anything should happen"
All war material human or other, has
its assignable value when the question of
its expenditure has TO be raised. Even
commanding general knows what regi-
ments he can best afford 10 report as part
of the price paid for victory. The
Colonel did not put any estimate upon
Randall or the old artilIeryman down in
the hold of the barge
The latter was now mopping his fore
head with his bandanna, and saying to the
arriving squad of -'roustabouts -
Only a couple of dozen more. boys,
and then we can get out of this oven. It's
almost hot enough to fire barrel Of gun
powder, without any fuse or match ei-
ther-"
Each in turn picked up and shouldered
the shell assigned TO him, and wheeled
toward the cOmpanion-way.
Randall, on the stern of the barge, with
his pencil and taIIy-book in his hand, took
due note of every man and shell, but now
and then seemed disposed 10 turn and
stare for a second or 50 at the yellow
flood which went swirling and eddying
by.
Il could do it, he said IF al accident
should happen. only there wouldn't be any
warning. First I'd know, / shouldn't
know anything
AT that moment s long, lank. loosely
built '+roustabout" came up the narrow
stairway, with cleaning tube Of copper
and iron on his left shoulder
That's the Ieft-landed man from Cal
TO. said Randall His bones are put TO
/ gether with strings. HuIloE~ small,